Change.gov - The Official Web Site of the The U.S. Presidential Transition

President-elect Barack Obama is in Chicago today and will speak to the press at 10:40 a.m. CT.

We'll have pictures and video shortly after the event.

Last week, President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden introduced the nation to the team they've chosen to help guide us out of the economic crisis.

Our cameras were there as the news developed, and we asked Brian Deese, a member of the Transition's Economic Policy Team, to give us a behind-the-scenes look at the process.

We interviewed Paul Volcker and Austan Goolsbee -- both of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board -- and Peter Orszag, Director-designate of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to hear how they plan to approach the challenges and opportunities ahead of us.

Watch the video below.

More than 3,500 reader comments later, we’re excited to report on the success of our recent community discussion on health care, the first open conversation of its kind on Change.gov.

Members of our Health care Transition team, including former Senator Tom Daschle, were eager to dig in to the comments and find out more about the issues and concerns that drove the community conversation online.

Here's a look at what they had to say:

Like Sen. Daschle points out in the video, the whole Change.gov team is focused on providing a clear and transparent look at the Transition operation.

The wealth of information that came out of the health care discussion is a valuable resource -- not just for our team, but for anyone interested in learning more about some of the most pressing issues we face.

We thought it might be interesting to step back and look at the most common words from this bustling conversation. Here's what we found:

This "word cloud" shows the 100 most commonly used words in the healthcare discussion, arranged by size according to their frequency (using Wordle). It's just one way to summarize the information you provided.

As we continue to cultivate an open conversation with our online community, we'll be taking steps to facilitate these discussions in new and innovative ways.

We want to hear your voice. Use the discussion tool below to let us know what you liked about the health care discussion, and suggest ways to keep the conversation going in the future.

One reminder: Focus your comments on the topic at-hand – it makes the discussion much more engaging for everyone. There will be more opportunities to discuss other important issues in the future. If you have questions about your content, check out our official comment policy here.

Update: Comments for this question will close at 5:00 p.m. EST on 12/10/08.

The President-elect, Vice President-elect, and over 40 governors are in Philadelphia this morning to talk about how best to work together and get the economy going again.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, chair of the National Governors' Association (NGA), said the states and the federal government need to drive job creation together -- with projects ranging from repairing highways and expanding public transit to building drinking water facilities. On the agenda today? Which of those projects are ready-to-go and can put people to work right away.

With many states buckling under budget deficits that could “go as high as $200 billion" in total, "We do need federal help,” Rendell said.

But Jim Douglas, the Republican governor of Vermont and vice chair of the NGA, was careful to point out that it's going to be a collaborative effort.

"States are not just coming to Washington with our hands out," he said. "We're taking action at the state level to reduce our levels of spending and live within our means."

We'll have more from this event, including photos, later in the day.

President-elect Obama has championed the creation of a more open, transparent, and participatory government. To that end, Change.gov adopted a new copyright policy this weekend. In an effort to create a vibrant and open public conversation about the Obama-Biden Transition Project, all website content now falls under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License:

“Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Content includes all materials posted by the Obama-Biden Transition project. Visitors to this website agree to grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to the rest of the world for their submissions to Change.gov under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.”

Copyright Professor and blogger James Grimmelmann explains what this means:

“Talk about doing the right thing. Now the collaborative power of Change.gov isn’t limited by what the transition team itself is able to enable. Anyone can take the policy points and discussions from the site and create their own remix or branch of it. This is a very good sign of the transition team’s attitude towards their task. It’s also a good license choice. Attribution 3.0 is the Barack Obama of CC licenses: modern, dignified, generous, and tolerant.”

Professor Lawrence Lessig also commented on his blog, noting the complexity of working through such issues: “This is great news about a subject that's harder than it seems.”

Change.gov has incorporated additional features designed to make the Transition more accessible and its content more open and re-useable. For every video posted – from the weekly addresses, to press conferences, to speeches, to “Inside the Transition” pieces – there are links to high-resolution QuickTime video files beneath embedded videos (these are also available via the Transition’s podcast), so that the video can be saved to a computer and edited at will. The Obama-Biden Transition Team is continuing to explore ways to use new media to create a more transparent Transition. This is part of an ongoing planning process to create a 21st century government that is more transparent, participatory, and effective.

We've come a long way from the "ignorance and fear" that once defined the world's reaction to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, President-elect Obama says in a video message and statement released today to mark the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. But he also points out that we still have a long way to go to defeat HIV/AIDS, both here in the United States and globally.

"[I]n the end this epidemic can’t be stopped by government alone, and money alone is not the answer either," he said. "All of us must do our part."

Watch the video and read the official statement from the Obama-Biden Transition Team below.

With today's introduction of key members of the National Security Team, President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden have now chosen nearly half of the cabinet, including the heads of the departments of State, Defense, Treasury, and Justice.

Nominees announced today include Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Eric Holder as Attorney General, Governor Janet Napolitano as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Susan Rice as Ambassador to the United Nations, and General Jim Jones, USMC (Ret) as National Security Adviser. President-elect Obama also announced that he has asked Robert Gates to stay on as Secretary of Defense.

Opinion leaders from across the ideological spectrum have praised the cabinet that is taking shape.

"In selecting nominees for his Cabinet and a new White House staff, President-elect Barack Obama has so far placed an admirable emphasis on proven competence over personal loyalty or political purity," the Washington Post editorial board wrote last week.

View the video and pictures from today's press conference and read President-elect Obama's prepared remarks below.

Over this holiday week, many Americans have taken the time to reflect upon the role of service in their communities.

One theme runs throughout the stories and suggestions that were submitted: folks are fired up to take part in President-elect Obama's plans to increase and improve service opportunities across the country.

Kari from California wrote in to tell us about her service to education. She said:

"I've been serving my community as a high school teacher and director of a program for low-income, first-generation college-going high school students for seven years now. I believe in Barack Obama's mission of hope and change and a better country."

President-elect Obama has repeatedly said that his Administration will call on all Americans to serve others. Joan from Ohio wrote in to say that she is "thrilled to have our government ask me to do something." She said:

"At the most basic level, I think the world cannot evolve without individuals shouldering responsibility for change -- preferably united under strong leadership from government.

I'm a former human resources manager and communications consultant. I have volunteered tutoring in schools. I have worked on rebuilding projects in New Orleans. I have been a case worker and volunteer coordinator with the Red Cross. And I have worked with VITA (Volunteers in Tax Assistance) doing tax returns for low income and elderly folks. In other words: I'm not entirely picky about my service jobs."

Several seasoned volunteers offered stories from their own experience that included valuable advice for others interested in service. Suzannah from North Carolina wrote:

"I have spent over 30 years in human services and volunteered many hours in various projects. I think that there should be inter-agency collaboratives with a shared vision -- that there should be a search for best practices in volunteerism and a gold standard set. There should be ongoing assessment, and non-profit administrators should be given increased salaries, as should teachers. Examples of inter-agency collaboration could include, for instance: early intervention, family support, parenting classes, job training and housing."

Your stories of service help remind others of the big role ordinary Americans must play in creating the change we need for our country. Keep sending us stories about your service experiences here.

Today, American families are gathered to give thanks for the many blessings in their lives.

In a preview of his weekly address, President-elect Barack Obama urges Americans to acknowledge the blessings we all share over this Thanksgiving holiday.

While our nation is faced with tough economic times, President-elect Obama recognizes the value of service in rebuilding struggling communities across the country.

This Thanksgiving, President-elect Obama has asked the nation to celebrate this distinctly American tradition while looking forward to the future we share with hope and promise.

Watch the President-elect's Address now -- then send us your stories about the ways you or others you know serve your community:

Every day this week, President-elect Barack Obama has introduced new members of his economic team. Today it was Paul Volcker and Austan Goolsbee, who will lead the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Asked if the flurry of public activity was a response to the current Administration's handling of the current crisis, President-elect Obama said that his focus on the economy was about something much broader.

"No, I think what it speaks to is the frustration of eight years in which middle class wages have gone down, or in real terms their family incomes have been reduced," he said. "It expresses frustration about our inability to tackle some of the long term problems that we've been facing and have been talking about for decades, whether it's health care, energy, an education system that's been slipping behind in critical areas like math or science. And most of all, I think frustration with the incapacity of Washington to take bold, clear, decisive steps to deal with our economic problems."

For years President-elect Obama has fought not only for an overhaul of the regulations that govern Wall Street -- as his economic agenda states, "Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that our deep systemic financial market crisis requires a systemic response" -- but for bold action in nearly every area of public policy.

The members of the economic team he announced this week clearly reflect these key principles. Each has the experience, ability, and will to enact bold change. Below we've put together some recent statements from each member of the team to give you an idea of where they're coming from on these key issues.

Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary-designate:
"Apart from the mix of incentives and constraints set by regulatory policy, the structure of the regulatory system in the United States needs substantial reform. Our current system has evolved into a confusing mix of diffused accountability, regulatory competition, an enormously complex web of rules that create perverse incentives and leave huge opportunities for arbitrage and evasion, and creates the risk of large gaps in our knowledge and authority. This crisis gives us the opportunity to bring about fundamental change in the direction of a more streamlined and consolidated system with more clarity around responsibility for the prudential safeguards in the system."
--Speech, 6/9/08, link

Larry Summers, Director-designate of the National Economic Council:
"I think the defining issue of our time is: Does the economic, social and political system work for the middle class?... Because the system’s viability, its staying power and its health depend on how well it works for the middle class."
--New York Times, 6/10/07, link

Christina Romer, Director-designate of the President's Council of Economic Advisors:
"Poverty is arguably the most pressing economic problem of our time. And because rising inequality, for a given level of income, leads to greater poverty, the distribution of income is also a central concern."
--Economic Review, 1/1/99, link

Melody C. Barnes, Director-designate of the Domestic Policy Council:
"To restore fairness to our system, I will embark on a multi-faceted approach including increasing our investment in public education, promoting genuine health care reform, and backing a higher minimum wage... Our economic security, our national security, our health, and the future of the global environment are fundamentally linked to the choices we make about energy."
--"What a Progressive President Might Say," Op-ed, Washington Post, 1/22/07, link

Peter Orszag, Director-designate of the White House Office of Management and Budget:
"While I’m on the topic of health care, I’d like to make a point related to the current turmoil in financial markets. Many observers have noted that addressing the problems in financial markets and the risks to the economy may displace health care reform on the policy agenda… Although it may not seem immediately relevant given our current difficulties, it will be crucial to address the nation's looming fiscal gap -- which is driven primarily by rising health care costs -- as the economy eventually recovers from this current downturn."
--CBO Director's Blog, 10/13/08, link

Paul Volcker, Chair of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board:
"The new system seemed to work effectively in fair financial weather, with great confidence in its efficiency and presumed benefits. However, I believe there is no escape from the conclusion that, faced with the kind of recurrent strains and pressures typical of free financial markets, the new system has failed the test of maintaining reasonable stability and fluidity... The critical pressures on our financial markets are not unique, nor can an approach to dealing with those pressures be successful in isolation. We have a lot upon which to build, and we should not miss the opportunity to extend the areas of cooperation."
--Testimony to the Joint Economic Committee, 5/14/08, link